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With 16 years in the business to back him, he’s moved on and stepped up to one of the biggest companies in the business

By SHIV DAS

If there’s one quality that’s placed Mohd Rizeal Mansor in good stead in his working life, it’s patience. Especially when the devil in the detail strikes and it seems to spoil everything.

Mohd Rizeal, arena Middle East & Asia’s head of sales, says he’s found his niché in life in his current position

“Up till then, we can be working hard, but invariably, problems crop up and I’ve known people giving up at that point,” he said. But, not him…something he picked up when working with Germans. In 2003, he had joined one such company, Roder Asia (M) Sdn Bhd, in the business of setting up marquees and tents for events.

The company had won the contract for the Carlsberg Malaysian Open and his position then was sales and operations executive, and it was his first experience with a golf event…and introduction to the German work ethic.

He had put his head down and worked, giving his all and it paid off when he was made project manager in 2005, then company director two years later and ended up as VP.

The company won the contract for marquee and tent structures for the 2018 Maybank Championship.

With that as an additional feather in his cap came this year’s edition of the tournament at the Saujana Golf and Country Club once more. With 16 years in the business to back him, he’s moved on and stepped up to one of the biggest companies in the business, Asia tents arena, a member of the Arena Group, which has made Malaysia the equipment hub for its operations in Asia.

He is head of sales and given his experience, he headed the team to put up the structures for the 2019 Maybank Championship, since the company had no one just yet to fit the slot.

“I was hands-on for two months,” he said. He wasn’t complaining, but in his present position in an international giant, he had more protocol to navigate and that meant referring to his MD based in Dubai for decisions.

Right now, it is just he and a head of operations who are running the show here.

The company was also structure partner for the CIMB Classic 2012 and 2013 and the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, as well as when it came to three editions of the EurAsia Cup (2014, 2016 and 2018).

He said he’s found his niché in life and it’s in the nature of things that the company, as of late, now goes by the name of Arena Middle East & Asia.

This father of four (the eldest is 19 and the youngest, three) is confident that more international golf tournaments are headed this way to keep him busy.